Tag Archives: hearing from God

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What God Gives Me For Christmas

For Unto You (that's me and YOU!)

For Christmas, God gave me a gift!  A one time, yes you can have it gift!  I accepted my gift from God, and this has led to daily gifts.

Not just a present to open one day a year, but gifts given daily.  Gifts from a God to a little ole me.  Now that’s what I call a Christmas experience!!

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord  Luke 2:11

First things first.  One step at a time.  The first Gift from God that I accepted was His Son Jesus.  You see, along with choosing this gift, I chose to make Jesus my Saviour, my King.  I willingly decided that I will follow His teachings, read the Bible and follow His directions.  I accepted God’s Gift of Love into my life when I was about 10 years old.  I eventually accepted His desire to lead and guide me when  I was in my teens.  I FINALLY accepted His gift of wanting a TRUE LOVING RELATIONSHIP with me when I reached my 50’s.   (I’m a slow learner with a stubborn streak. aka a human being)

After receiving and accepting God’s Gift of Love, (Jesus), into my heart, I was given another gift.  I didn’t ask for it.  I really didn’t know about it, much less how it worked, or how to use it.  Didn’t matter.  There the gift was right there in front of me…..  With my name on it……. I opened it……. It said “Forgiveness”!   I realized I had been forgiven for what I had done wrong….. and I learned to forgive others.

There were other gifts that began to appear…….. peace, comfort, joy.  I realized that this Christian way of life was truly filled not with just words, but with a daily walk with an omnipotent, all powerful God.  And……each day there was another gift.

UHOH!  Confession time!!  I have a confession to make.  There were many days that the gifts given to me from God weren’t opened.  Some small gifts, some large……. and for whatever reason, I chose not to open them.  Seems strange that I would choose NOT to open a gift.  Honestly it appears that I was either selfish, doubting, stubborn, “in a bad frame of mind”, lazy, or just plain human stupid.  Somehow, some way, I decided not to open that day’s gifts.

But the gifts would keep coming.  No matter how bad, disrespectful, selfish, or I’ll say it like this……….no matter how bad a sinner I was being, there would still be another gift waiting for me to open.

So,……. if I can make my decision making, my thought process, my everyday walk in life line up with what Jesus wants and has in store for me, then these presents and gifts are mine on a daily basis.  Wheww, that’s a mouthful.  What I’m saying is this.  Follow Jesus.  His gifts to you are there every day.  You are the one making the decision to OPEN them.

Every day, there is a new gift from God.  Not because of you, but because of Him.  Each day another gift of abundant life, a closer walk with Him, a prayer (that goes both ways).  Each day a new beginning.  Each day is a gift from above.

What about you?  Are there too many gifts from God that you haven’t opened?Are there too many gifts from God just waiting for you to accept?  Yet, you won’t open them.  Why is that??

Look in the mirror in your home and you’ll honestly see why you don’t open God’s gifts to you.  Hey, go right now.  When you look in the mirror you’ll see the problem.  Nothing to be ashamed of.  You are just plain human stupid. (I should know.  I’ve got a mirror too…….in my house, in my car, mirrors everywhere).  We see our own human stupid weaknesses.  Other people are sometimes quick to point them out as well.  We aren’t good enough, we don’t understand, we don’t deserve, we can’t, we can’t, we can’t.  See, plain human stupid thinking going on right there.

Do you want to get rid of the “stinkin’ thinkin’ ” that keeps us from opening God’s gifts to us each and everyday?

First things first.  One step at a time.

For unto     _____your name_____    is born this day a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.  There, that’s the first gift opened.  Now be watching for all the other daily gifts given to you.  And tear into ’em.  Now that’s Christmas!!!  Wishing you a DAILY Merry Christmas!

See Ya!  Dan Ainsworth  wilderness preacher

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Why Is The Sky Blue?

You need to understand as a small child

“Why is the sky blue?”, the young child asks.  I’m guessing you would answer the same way I did.  “It’s blue cause, well,……. the colors are….. well, molecules in the air are,…….uhhhh,  the blue light is scattered more than red, and the human eye ah, well, hmmm, we perceive blue color because.  Shoot. C’mon kid, it’s blue just cause that’s the way it is!”

It’s irritating to me that I can’t explain something to this little child.  She’s definitely too young to understand.  She’s too young to have had the experience that I’ve got.  My brain is holding a lot more knowledge than what her tiny new brain would have. Yet, she’s fixin’ to teach me a lesson.

Hey, I should be the teacher here.  I’ve read and studied lots over the years.  My IQ is high enough that I should be able to communicate my thoughts clearly to another person.  Yet here I am stumbling and mumbling trying to explain my thoughts to a 6 year old.  Honestly, it’s because I feel superior to this young child.  What does she know?  Could she even understand what I’m telling her in the first place. (Even if I didn’t stumble and mumble.)  Wait a few years kid, then you’ll be able to understand things (just as good as me).

 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them.  And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18: 2-4

When I asked the young girl why she thought the sky was blue she gave a short, precise, and confident answer.  “God made it that way”.  (And she didn’t even mumble or stumble with her words.

Bam!  Showed me who the teacher is.  Bam!  Showed me who has faith. Bam!  That little baby girl showed me how to live!!

We live in a world where knowledge is important.  If we don’t know an answer we “google it”, we ask Siri, we seek most all of our answers by seeking more knowledge.  I guess that’s good,……. it makes us more “smart”.

To live in a Christian spiritual world, we must come as a small young child.  That is, we must seek answers to our life’s questions in a trusting way.  Show up each day with questions, but come as a child.  Curious, but not already filled with doubts and fears.We must look to God for answers and KNOW and BELIEVE IN HIM.  Easier said than done, right?

Oh, it’s hard!!  Because you “done growed up”.  You now think as a grown person.  There is more value in understanding how something works than in trusting that it works.  There is this perception that if you have faith and trust, it’s a sign of weakness. Wrong.  It’s a sign that you are thinking as a child.  A child of the King.  A child in the Heavenly Kingdom right here and now on this Earth.  Bam!!   Thank You my Heavenly Father!!

See Ya!  Dan Ainsworth  wilderness preacher    and “Never growing up”

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Detour Ahead

But God asks to go along? What's up with that?

Hey! You and I are a lot alike.  We plan our trip, make plans for today, even make a plan for the rest of our life,……..and then there it is.  Detour ahead!!

Detours????? That usually means wasted time.  Why am I having to take a detour anyway?  Is the bridge out ahead? (well,  I won’t be so upset if I find that out.)  Is it because of road construction? (and all those orange barrels that go along)  Is it for no reason at all? (meaning there is no reasonable explanation.)

But, this detour is a little different.  It’s a lot different.  It’s concerning a path that my life must take.  A detour that many of you are on.  The detour of a financial difficulty, a health problem, a season of waiting, a detour that you didn’t plan on taking but you HAVE TO GO in order to keep traveling on your journey.  Problems, problems…….yet someone is asking you can they come along.  Who wants to go with you on this detour from your plans and journey?  God.

It never dawned on me until the other night.  I was listening to The Noble Heart campfire conversation online.  John (shout out to John) was talking about his father passing away a few days ago. I can so relate to that.  He expressed that he felt like his life was being taken on a detour.  But,…….. then he said this.  He sincerely felt that God was asking him if he would allow him (God) to go with John while on this detour.  I was sensing the same thing in my detour of life.  I never truly thought on this, but God asks to be invited into our everyday lives.  You ever thought about it that way?   Have you ever sensed that God wants to be in your (each and every day) life?

Think about this with me.  We are traveling with our loved ones down the road and there is a detour.  But what if when you hit the detour you suddenly stopped, made everyone get out, then when you finish the detour, you load everyone back in.  Doesn’t make sense does it.

But think about this.  When we are on a detour because of finances, health, bad situations at school or work, we tend to TRY to handle it by ourselves.  We literally make everyone get out (including God) as we charge into the detour and all its expected frustrations and wasted times.  Detours give us unexpected problems, unexpected time delays, and well, they just get us out of our plans and routines.  Bummer, now I’ve also gotten rid of all my passengers on this detoured trip.  Double Bummer!!

In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.  Proverbs 16:9

Back to that God asking me…… and you.  Do you ever sense our God asking you if He can be with you everyday?? (even in and especially during detours in your life?)  Do you ever wonder why an all powerful, all knowing God wants to be involved with a human like you?  Difficult to explain, I know. But I sense that it’s because of His Love.  At the most difficult times, we humans tend to focus on the detour and all it’s problems on our plans.  We then make everyone “get out of the car”.  Silly humans!

I’m going to let my Lord and Saviour go with me on this detour.  He will no doubt show me some things as we travel together.  Hmmm,… maybe even see and experience some things on this detour that wouldn’t be seen on the normal usual road.

Good luck on your journey (and those detours that will come).  Remind yourself there is an all knowing,all powerful, omnipotent Being that wants to tag along.  This detour may be just the thing needed for the two of you to truly get to know one another.

See Ya!  Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher (On a major detour in life, with God right there with me!!!!)